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Geography: Officially known as the Republic of Tunisia (Al Jamhuriyah at-Tunisiyah in Arabic), Tunisia lies at the top of the African continent, bordered by the Mediterranean Sea along its northern and easternmost sides. One hundred thirty-seven kilometers southwest of Sicily, Tunisia is two hours by air from Paris or Geneva and only 45 minutes by air from Rome. With Algeria to the west and south …
Tunisia is a multi-party, parliamentary democracy with a republican form of government. The governmental structures were established by the Tunisian Constitution of June 1, 1959, which was amended July 12, 1998. Based on a combination of French civil law stemming from the period during which Tunisia was governed as a French protectorate (1881-1956) and Islamic law (Sharia) based on the Koran and t…
Public Education: In 1998, approximately 2.5 million Tunisians were enrolled in primary, secondary, and university institutions out of a population of about 9 million. Enrollment levels in basic education (the compulsory first nine grades of schooling) had reached 99 percent. As already noted above, all Tunisians ages 6 through 15 are required to attend school, as of the early 1990s. The education…
General Survey: Although kindergartens exist in Tunisia, improving and expanding quality early-childhood programs will be supported through future World Bank funding, in collaboration with the Tunisian government. Primary schools, in contrast, are now plentiful throughout Tunisia, the government having made it a priority over the last several decades of the twentieth century to expand primary educ…
General Survey: In 1998, approximately 800,000 students were enrolled in secondary schools covering the three grades of the second cycle of basic education (the lower-secondary level) and the four final grades of secondary education. Secondary schools numbered 760 public institutions in 1995-1996, educating 725,900 students who were taught by 30,170 teachers in classes averaging 24.1 students each…
Rapid growth in the student population of Tunisia's higher education system in the decades since independence has posed a challenge to educators and administrators interested in developing a high-quality, well-integrated system of public institutions to satisfy the demands of the labor market and the interests of students. Over a 25-year period student enrollments in the higher education sy…
Government Education Organs & Agencies: Besides the Ministry of Higher Education already described, the Tunisian public education system includes first and foremost the Ministry of Education as well as several other ministries whose functions also include the administration of training and educational programs and programs serving children and youth. These are the Ministry of Youth, Childho…
Adult Education: Until recently Tunisians have had little opportunity to change their careers. Based on recent recommendations made by Tunisian government leaders, however, this is likely to soon change. As Tunisia adjusts to the demands of the information age and prepares its population for the new service-sector jobs appearing on the horizon, particularly in the high-technology and scientific fi…
Training & Qualifications: As noted above, teacher training takes place largely through a set of institutes established to prepare primary-education teachers. The question of how to best upgrade teachers' skills and improve the quality of curriculum design and methods of instruction, as already mentioned, has received special attention from educators and government educational offici…
General Assessment: Tunisia has come a very long way in a few short decades in its efforts to spread educational institutions and programs to the Tunisian people, no matter how far apart they may live from the capital. Whereas few women and relatively few men in the rural countryside were literate before independence, school participation rates throughout the country are now sufficiently high that…
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